The manufacture of sausage on a small scale typically requires the use of a sausage stuffing machine into which sausage material (typically ground meat and seasoning mixture) is inserted and compressed by use of a hand crank (or an electric motor for more automated applications). The sausage material is extruded through a stuffing tube or nozzle, and into a sausage casing which is inserted over the nozzle. Natural sausage casings typically are made of beef, sheep, goat or pig intestines. Such casings are thin membranes, are fragile and must be handled carefully to avoid rips, tears or punctures in the membrane. This is particularly difficult to do, as the nozzles onto which the casings must be placed are generally cylindrically shaped at their output ends, and the casings and nozzles must be relatively close in size.
Complex apparatuses and methods have been developed to overcome the difficulties inherent in handling the casings and applying them to the nozzles. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,363,819 discloses a complex technique involving the application of casings to a synthetic resin sleeve, the fitting of the sleeve over the nozzle, and the subsequent removal of the sleeve facilitated by perforations therein. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 3,122,779 discloses a complex technique for first forming a casing support on a shell, loading a casing onto the support, removing the support, and then applying the support to a stuffer nozzle. Such techniques are complicated, cumbersome and require the use of specialized equipment, in addition to the sausage stuffing machinery.